The Evolution of Office Space over the Pandemic - part 2

Over a series of interviews we will look at the evolution of office space during this pandemic.

Over the last year, companies in all industries have had to change the way they work. Workng from home has become the new normal, leaving many companies asking the question, do we need an office?

Today we speak to Peter Dudley, Commercial Real Estate Agent at O&A Property Consultants, helps clients to find their dream workspace. But what is a dream workspace these days? We asked him just that, as well as other questions…

How have you seen commercial real estate evolve during the pandemic?

It will come as no surprise to anyone that there has been a monumental shift in how people see and use office space as a result of this pandemic.

After the announcement in March last year informing the country of the first lockdown there was a huge majority of offices that emptied overnight.

The initial impact was throwing up questions about how to shift the technical challenge of the office to the thousands of remote workstations that had been created overnight. The aim was to cope without the office as best as possible.

There was, however, a need for the office to be a base for IT, technical and senior teams looking to navigate their business through the challenges suddenly placed in front of them.

It took a good few months for the dust to settle on this initial impact and for people to start to look rationally at their operation. There was not a mass cancellation of leases and serviced office agreements, more a period of reflection and discussion about what the business will need.

Are people using their offices?

Yes….ish, albeit it in a very different volume and capacity.

Most Landlords and office providers we work with are reporting less than 15% of workers are in their offices.

There are still some businesses that are using their office on a daily basis. Naturally they are not being used in the same way as they were pre-pandemic but there are essential services that have to be based in the office.

Cloud technology has come a massive way in the last decade but for many businesses security is key and it is just not possible to operate in a completely remote manner.

In London, for instance, there are many that rely on the security of their systems in their office space and need a certain number of the team to be hands on in the office to facilitate the functioning of these systems on a day-to-day basis.

 Do you think we will return to the usual office based routine?

There is no question that office space will take on a very different dimension once we finally emerge from this awful pandemic.

However, I do feel that there will always be a need for the vast majority of businesses to continue to have an office as a central base for their teams.

One thing that we have all come to realise over the last year or so is the NEED that most people have for human interaction over and above home schooling, exercise and walks with the kids and the dog as a release from the constraints of our four walls for an hour or so a day.

WFH worked well for the short term however it is becoming more and more apparent that there is a real desire to return to the office.

What do you see as a dream office space post-Covid?

Office space will become more of a hub in my opinion and more emphasis on a hybrid solution of working from home and working in the office based on the role and the need to productively work as a team to deliver success.

Currently we are seeing 4 trends for office requirements:

1)     Companies are taking MORE space than needed in order to accommodate social distancing within their office.

2)     Companies are roughly taking 2/3 of the space they would need to accommodate everyone within the office and then rotating teams on a #wfh or office on a daily/weekly rota.

3)     People wanting to secure their own floor and make this a controlled and Covid safe space whether that be in a traditional lease or a Serviced space.

4)     People are operating on a first come first serve basis on a hotdesking basis and utilising lockers to store personal belongings in order to control cleaning and cross contamination.

Layouts will begin to take into account space per person rather than a number of desks that can fit. Communal meeting areas that allow for break out sessions, conversations and meetings to take place in a way that maintains the need for social distancing where necessary as we begin to learn to live with this virus in the coming years. This absolutely does not mean that we will have a mass of black and yellow tape plastered over floors of offices.

It more leads itself to evolution and innovation in the design of offices and the flow that can be achieved when a bit of thought is put in. Landlords and office providers across all spectrums have already embarked on this journey and innovation in this field could well be the best thing to happen to office space in the next decade.

Do you think we will ever go back to the traditional 'work from office' routine?

I don’t think that the traditional ‘work from office’ routine will return, solely because it has become clear that the work/life balance can be achieved in a much better way by including elements that we have seen during the pandemic.

Working from home has become a buzz phrase and it is absolutely true that there are a lot of businesses that have seen great successes in transferring to a remote model. Sustaining this over the next few years, however, may not be as simple as it first seems.

Productivity is key to the success of every business and there will be an inevitable need to find a balance that supports the team in finding their own best balance that works for the business. I am convinced that the traditional office will survive as a base for all successful businesses to drive forward over the coming years.

I stand by a comment I made in April 20, working from home is great when the world is ‘Closed’ and you have no other option but to remain home and work. Over time, when the world starts to ‘Open’ again the lure and temptation to procrastinate and be distracted is a real issue. This has been my experience from when I started O&A juggling two kids a dog and working from home as well as the temptation to nip for a coffee or do the weekly shop at lunch time becomes all too real.

Gary Brown, Founder of Debt Register, has worked with a number of clients in the office space over the pandemic to accelerate their unpaid invoices, something common in this industry since many businesses have not been using their office space. Gary wanted to highlight the changes to this industry casued by COVID by commissioning this series of articles with Women of FinTech.

You can read the first article here - https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/evolution-office-space-over-pandemic-gary-brown/